Flaw: Infamy — Marcus broke a story that put George “Crusader” Birmingham, an officer largely regarded as a hero cop by LVPD and the “zero-tolerance” crowd, behind bars for beating an illegal immigrant until he went blind. Birmingham won’t get out of fed on parole for at least 15 years since it was ruled a hate crime. LVPD has absolutely despised Marcus ever since (which is why he mostly gets his reports from PIs)

Bio:

—DEATH OF LOCALPOKERPERSONALITYRULEDMURDER: LVPDHAS NO LEADS. “LAMB OF GOD” STRIKESAGAIN?

Report filed by Marcus Finch, Las Vegas Sun

The scene in the private suite in the Bellagio was not a pleasant one; blood covered the walls and carpet and the beautiful Scandinavian furniture lay in kindling strewn across the living room. The body of Patrick Talamh, a professional gambler who traditionally went by the nickname “Irish” in the gaming media, was mostly absent, but DNA tests on the remains that were present confirmed that he was the victim.

The case was called in by private investigator Bethany Wolfe of Black Forest Investigations. Ms. Wolfe had been tailing Mr. Talamh in connection with an unrelated case. Ms. Wolfe offered no further comment as to the whereabouts of Mr. Talamh’s remains or her personal speculation as to the motive behind the attack.

“I’m not really equipped to investigate this murder scene, which is what it appears to be,” Ms. Wolfe said. “That’s LVPD’s job.”

Commissioner Kasabian speculated that this was a killing motivated by the late Mr. Talamh’s sometime messy finances. The late gambler was known to have been in some trouble with money as of late, although his associates have offered testimony that his situation had recently improved.

“Yeah, I hadn’t seen Pat for ages. He used to be in here all the time; I must’ve bought that same old watch off of him a dozen times. Things seemed to have been looking up for him,” local consignment store proprietor Charles Prince said.

LVPD refused to speak further to your correspondent.

The police have declined to speculate on whether the large cross spray-painted on the wall of the hotel room had bearing on the murder. The motto “Agnus Dei” (Lamb of God) was written underneath the cross, a calling card that Las Vegas has seen five times previously in similarly bloody murders. The method of killing, where the body was apparently separated into several different pieces after death, matches the modus operandi of the other Lamb of God killings.